Roy Brown (10 September 1925 — 25 May 1981) was a
jump blues musician who brought a soul singing style (from gospel music)
to the emerging genre of rock and roll.

CareerBorn Roy James Brown in New Orleans, Louisiana, Brown started
as a gospel singer. His mother was an accomplished singer and organist
in church. After a move to Los Angeles, California some time in the
1940s, and a brief period spent as a professional boxer in the
welterweight category, he won a singing contest in 1945 at the Million
Dollar Theater covering "There's No You" by Bing Crosby. In 1946 Brown
moved to Galveston, Texas, where he sang in a club. His numbers included
"Good Rocking Tonight". He returned to New Orleans in 1947, where he
performed at The Dew Drop Inn.

Brown failed to interest Wynonie Harris in "Good Rocking Tonight",
but got an introduction to the president of Deluxe Records, who signed
him. The song was released in 1947 and reached #13 on Billboards R&B
charts (but was eclipsed by Harris' cover of it). Brown's version was a
jump blues with a swing beat, but Harris's cover version can be
considered closer to rock and roll. Elvis Presley also covered the song
for Sun Records in 1954; later re-released on RCA Victor when his
recording contract was sold to that record label in 1956.

Brown and his band "The Mighty Men" were spectacular performers, with
the kind of crowd pleasing stage histrionics for which
Little Richard
would soon be famous. Unfortunately, tastes changed and Brown could not
keep up.

The decline of his fortunes coincided with his successfully winning a
lawsuit against King Records for unpaid royalties in 1952, one of the
few African American musicians to do so in the 1950s. This has led some,
such as author Nick Tosches (in his book Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll,
which contains a chapter on Brown) to believe that Brown may have been
blacklisted. When his popularity ebbed in the rock and roll era, he
tried teen-slanted songs like "School Bell Rock", but had little success
and more or less retired.

His popularity was at its lowest at the end of the 1950s, but he
sporadically managed to find work through the 1960s. To supplement his
income, he worked as an encyclopedia salesman.

In
1970 Brown closed The Johnny Otis Show at the Monterey Jazz Festival. As
a result of the crowd reaction he recorded "Love For Sale", which became
a hit for Mercury Records.

In the late 1970s a compilation album of his old work brought about a
minor revival of interest. In 1978 he had a successful tour in
Scandinavia following the release of Laughing But Crying and before the
release of Good Rocking Tonight. Shortly before his death he performed
at the Whisky A Go-Go in West Hollywood, California and headlined the
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival during the spring of 1981.

He died of a heart attack, in San Fernando, California at the age of
55, in May 1981.He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame
the same year.

In 2008, two of his songs, "Butcher Pete Pt. 1" and "Mighty, Mighty
Man" were included in the game Fallout 3. Their inclusion has created
increased popularity for his music, with iTunes reporting a 700% jump
from the month before Fallout 3 came out to after.